The 2024 Convergence Music Festival at the Tianjin Juilliard School came to a thrilling close with a spectacular closing concert featuring the Tianjin Juilliard Orchestra. The festival, which ran from January 26 to February 4, aimed to celebrate the works of the famous French composer Olivier Messiaen and two of his students, William Bolcom and Chen Qigang.
The closing concert, led by resident conductor Lin Jingji and featuring erhu performer Ma Xianghua, showcased a brilliant performance of Chen Qigang’s Erhu Concerto “The Passing Time” and Messiaen’s orchestral piece “Ascension”. Throughout the festival, audiences were treated to over ten orchestral, chamber, and vocal works by the three composers, offering a comprehensive exploration of Messiaen and his musical legacy.
Lin Jingji, director of orchestral performance at the Tianjin Juilliard School, emphasized the importance of showcasing modern and contemporary music. He expressed, “As musicians of this era, we have the responsibility to spread the word to more people modern and contemporary music, especially conveying the voices of contemporary composers, and participating in the evolution and development of music in this way, is an extremely exciting thing.”
The Convergence Music Festival, inspired by the annual Focus Music Festival of the Juilliard School in New York, aims to provide an immersive learning experience for students to explore modern and contemporary music through rehearsals, performances, lectures, and dialogues. This year’s festival, while maintaining an academic level, also extended an invitation to a wider audience with a diverse program that included both academic and popular repertoire.
The festival was a hit with audiences, with more than 1,000 off-campus attendees coming to watch the live concerts. Additionally, QQ Music’s selected playlists were played over 50,000 times during the duration of the music festival.
The success of the 2024 Convergence Music Festival highlights the Tianjin Juilliard School’s commitment to promoting modern and contemporary music, and providing a platform for students and audiences to engage with the rich and diverse world of music.